The Great Scourge
by WhatsInAName99
Summary: <html><head></head>When Hiccup is forced to fight against an old ally, he is reminded of the nature of war and how it changes both people and dragons. Set anywhere between books 9 and 10.</html>


What in Thor's name am I doing, I'm supposed to be working on my RotG WIP! Anyway, I was talking to a fellow Ziggerastica fan on DA and within this conversation we decided that this little nano should have been part of the rebellion. This is now my official head canon. This is also my first fanfiction for the books.

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><p>It was a night much like many for the outcasts: cold and miserable. Hiccup sat curled up tightly in the dead, hollow stump of a tree with Toothless and Wodensfang tucked snugly under what was left of his tattered, out-grown shirt and fire suit. The warmth radiating from the two little sleeping dragon bodies did little to quell the boy's shivers. The ground was still soaked from the last rainfall (as was Hiccup) so a campfire was out of the question. Besides, when you have to be in constant hiding because literally everything and everyone wants you dead, a fire can be dangerous. No, the cold was safer for Hiccup and the two small dragons anyway.<p>

Despite the wetness and the weather, Hiccup eventually felt his exhaustion beginning to overpower his discomfort, and soon sleep had all but overtaken him.

There is a precious moment on the edge of consciousness that occurs just seconds before you fall asleep when the earth and all its hardships feel like they are floating away from you, or you away from them, it is impossible to tell because it lasts only a fleeting millisecond.

It was in that fleeting millisecond that Hiccup was roused by a strange sound. It was much like the sound of a mouse scurrying across the floor, but instead dozens, possibly even hundreds of them. There was the scurrying, scratching sound, but there were also voices, DRAGON voices that seemed to be whispering all around him. He could not make out what they were saying at first, but something deep in his stomach that was otherwise empty told him that he needed to get out of that tree stump…NOW!

As the whispering grew louder, the dragons inside of Hiccup's cloths began to stir.

"_What's g-going on?"_ stammered Toothless. _"T-T-Toothless t-tiered. Make that n-noise go away s-so Toothless can sleep."_

"_We're all exhausted, Toothless,"_ said Wodensfang, who was now also fully awake and poking his head out from under Hiccup's left arm_. "But something isn't right."_

The whispering was growing louder and becoming recognizably Dragonese.

"_Something d-defiantly not r-right! Toothless t-tiered and h-hungry and…"_

"_Sh! Let me listen, Toothless!"_ Hiccup interrupted.

"Master always ordering p-poor Toothless-"

And when the whispering grew louder still and the words could be understood, even Toothless was silenced.

"_**Make red your claws with human blood.**_

_**Obliterate the human filth!"**_

"Oooooh dear gods, oh deargodsohdeargods!"

"_The rebellion!"_ shouted Wodensfang. _"Furious must be nearby; we need to leave. Quickly!"_

"_**Torch the humans like a wood.**_

_**The Rebellion is coming!"**_

"_Hurry Hiccup!"_ called another dragon voice outside the trunk. The Windwalker's voice cut thru the chaos. Hiccup's riding dragon had been sitting guard in the top of a nearby tree.

Hiccup was about to call back something along the lines of, "I'm coming," when Wodensfang and Toothless jumped out of his cloths and fled the stump and he felt a disgusting tickling all over his body. Something was crawling all over him, slipping inside of his cloths like dozens and dozens of tiny creatures, like ants or beetles or…

"_**Slake your thirst with human tears.**_

_**Do not spare the human child."**_

"NANODRAGONS!" Hiccup screamed, just as the prickly-crawling turned to fiery agony. All at once, hundreds of tiny dragon mouths collectively filled with thousands of tiny dragon teeth bit and ripped into Hiccup's skin.

The whispers were not whispers anymore. The song of the Red Rage now roared inside the trunk so loud it may as well have been occupied by Furious himself. It was a deafening holler. Hiccup screamed at the top of his lungs in panic but he could not even hear himself.

"_**Incinerate the human pest.**_

_**The Dragontime is coming!"**_

"_Hiccup_!" called Wodensfang. "_HICCUP_!" It was no use. Between the Nanodragons shouts of rage and Hiccups cries of pain, there was no chance for the boy who was immobilized by the attack inside the tree trunk to hear the old dragon.

"T-Toothless b-bite those tiny p-pests! Waking up Toothless and hurting Hiccup! T-Toothless-"

"_No, Toothless_," Wodensfang ordered his eager young companion. "_If you try to attack the Nanodragons, you could hurt Hiccup. We have to think and we have to be careful._"

"_I agree with Wodensfang_," said the Windwalker, his voice coming out nervous and wavering. Though the riding dragon was by far the largest of the three dragons, he was the most afraid of most things.

Toothless, however, was listening to neither Wodensfang nor the Windwalker. Despite warnings from his friends, the tiniest dragon dove inside the trunk.

"_T-take that you limpet-breath f-fodder-faces, you, you d-dribbly little worms with wings!"_

"_Toothless, go back outside!" _Hiccup screamed._ "I'll think of something."_

Toothless, as usual, ignored his masters commands and continued biting at every miniature motion he could see with his two spotlight-like eyes. His sharp gums crushed several of the attacking nanodragons, killing the creatures in one bite. Unfortunately in the chaos, Toothless also accidentally bit Hiccup a few times as Wodensfang had feared, as well as his own wing once.

Hiccup had leaned in his time as an outcast that no matter his pain of his terror, he had to find room in his mind to think.

Think, Hiccup, THINK he thought to himself. What do you know about nanodragons?

Nanodragons, like most dragons, were fire resistant and cold also swim quite well, so fire and water would not deter them. What he needed was something to lure them away from Hiccup…

"_WINDWALKER!"_ Hiccup shouted.

"Y-yes Hiccup?""About a mile south we saw a beehive. Torch all the bees out of it and bring it here!"

"_Bring it here PLEASE," _Toothless corrected_. "Hiccup not remember his m-manners!" _

"_Yes, Toothless, my manners. I'm sorry, now stop biting me!" _Then he added hastily,_ "PLEASE!"_

Without hesitation, the Windwalker flew south as fast as he could and soon found the beehive. Having no idea what it was for but trusting Hiccup, he let out a puff of smoky fire, enough to drive away the bees but not to burn the hive or ruin the honey inside. Faster than he believed to be safe thru the burnt and dying trees Windwalker flew back to Hiccup, who was still screaming and fruitlessly attempting to beat the nanodragons off of him when he returned.

"_What do you want me to do with the hive, Hiccup?_"

"Break the hive open just outside the tree trunk!"

Confused but still trusting his master, Windwalker obeyed and smashed the hive open at the entry to the tree trunk.

Please Woden let this work, Hiccup prayed silently in his heart.

Slowly Hiccup began to feel the biting ease as the tiny dragons abandoned their attack on him. Eventually every last attacker was buried and stuck in the fresh delisious honey from the hive Windwalker had broken.

Hiccup remembered from an encounter many years ago with the nanodragon emperor named Zigerastica that there is absolutely nothing a nanodragon loves more than honey. He had not been sure that their hunger for the sweet sticky treat would be enough to break the Red Rage. Luckily for Hiccup, who was now bleeding profusely from tiny bites all over his body (as well as a few from Toothless) hunger overpowered rage.

"_See,"_ bragged Toothless, _"T-Toothless show those puny little gnats!"_

Hiccup crawled out of the stump and heaved a sigh of relief. _"Yes, Toothless, you saved me, well done,"_ he thanked the proud dragon half-heartedly, for Toothless really had nothing to do with the nanodragons' defeat, though Hiccup really was proud of him for trying.

"Other dragons will smell your blood," Wodensfand warned, not giving the party a time to rest or celebrate long. "We should hurry to the river to the west to clean your wounds, then we must leave this area quickly."

Hiccup nodded in agreement and was about to climb on Windwalker's back when he heard a small but strong dragon voice coming from the pile of nanodragons stuck in honey.

"You shall not escape meeeee, oh loathsome twig-like vermin! I am all-powerful! I am the Living God!"

Living God?

Hiccup remembered those words from many years ago, the morning he had returned from the Roman ship that he and Fishlegs had accidentally boarded during a Pirate Training Program lesson.

Hiccup turned and knelt beside the now harmless sticky swarm of nanodragons. There, in the middle of the honey-smothered huddle, squirming desperately to no avail was…

Zigerastica.

"You?" Hiccup exclaimed in shock. "Zigerastica? How could you do this? How could you try to kill me after I saved your life?"

"_HA! I repaid my life dept to you, oh pale ugly one, a fact that I shall spend my entire life regretting. But now I shall right my wrongs and spill your rancid red blood in the name of the dragon Furious. __**RED RAGE!**__"_

"_**Make red your claws with human blood.**_

_**Obliterate the human filth!"**_

The nanodragons began to sing again, but their song was muffled by the honey this time, and their wings were so covered in stickiness that they could not fly after Hiccup.

"Hurry, Hiccup" urged Wodensfang, "The honey will not hold them forever. We must go now!"

However much he wished he could remain and speak with Zigerastica, Hiccup wasted no more time and quickly climbed onto Windwalker's back. In a flash, Hiccup and his three dragon companions headed west to clean Hiccup's wounds in the river. As they flew away, they could hear the muffled song of the Red Rage slowly drift away.

"So you know that dragon?" asked Wodensfang.

"Hiccup nodded. "He was an ally once. A long time ago. We saved each other's lives from the Romans of Fort Sinister." Hiccup sighed as if a heavy weight had just been added to the already heavy weights on his shoulders. He added dismally, "Now we're enemies."

"War does those types of things," said Wodensfang, "To humans and dragons. Zigerastica has been taken over by the dragon Furious. He is no different than the razorwings or raptortongues now, even if he was once a valued ally."

Hiccup said nothing, but knew that the wise old Wodensfang was right. War changed people. For better or worse, it changed them into what fate had decided they must be. It had already changed villains to leaders, chiefs to slaves, heroes to traitors, friends to enemies. Soon it would change an extraordinarily ordinary boy into a king, even if this boy had yet to accept it.

Any of it.


End file.
